Chapter 265: Fei Yu's Suspicion

Weird energy surged from the robed man's palm like a tide, silently flooding the entire train in an instant.

Strangely, no one on board noticed anything amiss.

Even the Old Man.

He merely watched in confusion as the man closed his eyes, unsure of what this bizarre figure intended to do. A second later, the man's eyes snapped open and he strode abruptly toward the sleeper cars.

"Found it—"

A sharp gleam flashed in his eyes as he parted the azure curtains. Moving with clear purpose, he walked directly to one of the compartments. Standing before its pale green bronze door, he released his weird energy again to absorb the residual aura lingering on the metal, confirming his senses.

The aura of the occupant within perfectly matched the aura on the dirt mound he had meditated upon earlier.

It was the key to opening the passage.

He reached out, preparing to force the door open, when a voice suddenly called out from the side.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!"

The Old Man pulled aside the blue curtain in the aisle and glared at him.

He could tell the stranger was about to break the door down—and that was Fei Yu's room.

The man cast a sidelong glance at the Old Man and sighed.

"Then you can't blame me for this—"

The moment the words left his lips, a blast of weird energy erupted from his fingertips and hurtled toward the Old Man.

Sensing the terrifying power packed into the strike, the Old Man's hair stood on end. His own weird energy flared instantly as he kicked off the floor and twisted out of the way.

"Boom—"

The beam of weird energy grazed the Old Man's arm and instantly blasted a massive hole straight through the floor of the train.

A mist of blood burst from the Old Man's arm, exposing gleaming white bone. Agony shot straight to his brain. In that split second of life and death, he forced out his Martial Body. The man's attack had been a mere probing strike; under normal circumstances, the Old Man would need to execute his pathing stance before advancing to the testing phase.

But the situation was too critical. Bypassing the pathing stance entirely, he manifested a dark golden light around himself and summoned phantoms at his back. He grabbed Bi Jie and Liu Ye from the viewing area and hurled them backward.

Then, he turned and fled.

He knew Fei Yu and the Young Master had already gotten off the train. Tiger was still sleeping in his room, but since the attacker hadn't gone to Tiger's door, the Old Man wasn't going to cause unnecessary trouble by drawing the man's attention to him.

Before escaping, however, he deliberately slipped a piece of Fragmented Weird Silver from his sleeve and flung it at a random passenger's door, hoping to divert the man's attention.

"Damn it. Ran into a tough one—"

The Old Man spat out several mouthfuls of blood. The man before him was at least at the Sixth Tier. If he went berserk, everyone on this train would end up dead.

Watching the Old Man retreat, the robed man chuckled softly and fired off another blast of weird energy.

"Bang!"

Facing the incoming strike, the Old Man didn't even have to think. He instantly entered his final stage: the killing blow.

A massive, dark golden palm manifested in front of him. With a deafening roar, it slammed into the weird energy.

But in an instant, the dark golden palm fractured inch by inch and shattered into thin air.

The Old Man's pupils contracted. Twisting his body once more, he sprinted toward the right wall of the carriage and threw himself straight through the window, barely avoiding the blast.

Even so, where the weird energy grazed his back, his flesh was stripped away as if flayed by a knife. He coughed up several more mouthfuls of blood.

"Something's wrong. I need to find the Young Master."

He sprinted a few steps toward the platform entrance before suddenly halting and changing direction.

The attacker was clearly after Fei Yu. If he went to them, he wouldn't just risk leading the man right to her—he would expose Luo Sheng's location, too. Realizing this, he vaulted over the platform's high wall and fled straight into the pitch-black mountains where the laborers were mining.

"Ran away again?"

Surprise flashed in the robed man's eyes.

He had guessed right. Although this inner world resident was old, his potential had only just been stimulated. Stepping into the Seventh Rank King Grade in the future wouldn't be much of a problem for him.

"A pity."

He couldn't use the Ritual here; otherwise, his location would be instantly exposed. He would be trapped in an endless cycle of pursuit, and his peaceful days would be over.

"I need to hurry."

He reached out a finger, and weird energy surged. The bronze door before him instantly collapsed to the floor. To his surprise, however, the room was completely empty. It wasn't what he expected at all.

...

The robed man frowned.

This again.

He was absolutely certain his previous calculations were flawless—the target should have been on this train. But with reality proving completely different, there was only one explanation.

That unknown factor that had interfered with his divination earlier had appeared again.

"Who exactly is it—"

His frown deepened.

Ultimately, he didn't linger. He quickly snatched up two light green hair ribbons left in the room and vanished from the spot.

Right at that moment.

In the adjacent room, the sleeping Tiger was once again squashed into meat paste by a giant palm in his dream. He shuddered violently and jolted awake.

The streets of Dangdangli.

This city truly didn't have much to look at. Gray dust and pitch-black ore seemed to dye every inch of the land. The streets were filthy, and even the hands of the passersby were coated in a layer of black grime.

Yan Jing looked at Fei Yu, who was holding his hand and dragging him aimlessly around, and suddenly chuckled.

"Xiao Yu, why did we get off the train?"

"Huh?"

Fei Yu played dumb and beamed, "I wanted to see the sights!"

"We've seen just about everything. Let's head back."

Yan Jing turned to go back, but Fei Yu immediately tugged his hand tight.

"W-We're not done looking around yet!"

Yan Jing smiled.

"It seems our Xiao Yu is keeping secrets."

Under Yan Jing's amused gaze, Fei Yu pursed her lips. Finally, she looked up into his eyes and spoke slowly.

"Everyone has secrets, Young Master."

"Isn't that what you told me back then?"

Yan Jing looked into Fei Yu's pristine eyes and searched his mind for that phrase. No matching memory surfaced.

The system hadn't made a mistake so far, which meant there were only two possibilities.

Either Fei Yu was misremembering, or she had grown suspicious of him and was using this chance to test him. Yan Jing leaned toward the latter.

Being suspected was normal, as Fei Yu's background was anything but ordinary.

Extremely unordinary.

Her origins were even greater than Tiger's.

Perhaps Li Qinghe had been right. Young Master Luo truly had an emperor's destiny; otherwise, there was no way to explain why figures like the Old Man and Fei Yu had appeared at his side.

As for why Li Qinghe had lost interest in Young Master Luo after that one conversation, Yan Jing guessed it was because Young Master Luo used to have an emperor's destiny—but the moment he told Li Qinghe he didn't want to be emperor, something had quietly changed.

Perhaps this seemingly aloof, scatterbrained little maid had noticed something long ago.

As for why she hadn't exposed him, maybe she wasn't certain—or maybe Yan Jing was just overthinking it.

Yan Jing smiled.

"Did I say that? I don't remember."

Hearing his reply, the coldness in Fei Yu's eyes faded slightly. Then, as if reverting to her usual demeanor, she chirped crisply.

"Like with your paintings! You guarded them from me and Master Liu like we were thieves!"

"How come you never hid them when you were painting women out on the town?"

Yan Jing laughed.

"I wasn't guarding them, I was treasuring them."

"Come on, let's head back. We can't just leave Master Liu and the others waiting there."

"L-Let's stay a little longer! Just a tiny bit longer!"

Fei Yu gripped Yan Jing's hand desperately, stopping just short of admitting outright that something was wrong.

But she still refused to let him leave.

"My Lord, we're stuck in Dangdangli!"

Li Qinghe stared at Aisin Gioro Teluoshan's figure projected from the Jade Token and frowned.

"What do you mean, 'stuck in Dangdangli'?"

"A hand fell from the sky, and bam! Just like that, really fast! The tracks were smashed flat. Then someone boarded the train, went bang, bang, and blew a bunch of huge holes through it! I was in my room—"

Teluoshan recounted the tale with vivid exaggeration.

Li Qinghe's frown deepened.

What kind of nonsense was this?

"What did the man look like?"

What did he look like?

Teluoshan smacked his lips in awkward hesitation.

He had only caught a glimpse through the crack of his door, so he hadn't seen the man's exact face. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration hit him, and he rushed to answer.

"A Daoist robe!! He was wearing a cyan Daoist robe with a white trim! The fabric looked like high-quality silk, the kind that costs at least five pieces of Fragmented Weird Silver a foot—"

"What did you say?!"

Li Qinghe's voice suddenly spiked, cutting Teluoshan off.

Teluoshan blinked, oblivious to what he'd said wrong. He subconsciously stroked his little mustache and murmured, "I-I said the fabric was high-quality silk—"

"I'm asking if the man was wearing a Daoist robe!!"

Li Qinghe sprang from his seat in anger.

"Y-Yes, he was."

Teluoshan was completely baffled.

"Where is he now?"

Li Qinghe wanted nothing more than to sever the connection right then and there, but he forced himself to muster his courage and ask.

"G-Gone! But it looks like someone else is coming." Teluoshan glanced out the door; it seemed another figure had just landed on the train.

"Crack!"

The Jade Token on the ground emitted a crisp sound, and its light died out.

Before Teluoshan could react, a knock echoed from outside his door.

"Idiot! That utter idiot!"

At this moment, Li Qinghe was fully prepared to murder Teluoshan himself.

Even if the fool hadn't realized the intruder was a human, couldn't he at least gauge the man's tier?

He had warned him repeatedly: entities above the Seventh Rank possessed immense supernatural power. In their presence—even within a kilometer of them—do not make contact! Do not make contact!

And yet, that damn chatterbox had completely ignored his words!

Now that this human had revealed himself, regardless of his motives, he was bound to attract the attention of East Lake Prefecture.

If the people of East Lake Prefecture discovered Teluoshan's token and realized he had contact with the outside, it could ruin all the groundwork Li Qinghe had laid for so long.

"That stupid, damn idiot!!!"

He was so enraged that his chest heaved uncontrollably for a long time.

Just then, a blind young girl heard the commotion. She stepped out of her room and approached Li Qinghe.

After grasping the situation, she spoke softly to comfort him.

"Do not be angry, Your Majesty. Perhaps this is the perfect opportunity to capture the Divine Bird."

"An opportunity?"

Soothed by the girl's gentle voice, Li Qinghe managed to calm down slightly.

"Yes."

The girl nodded.

"Legends say the Divine Bird can seek luck and avoid calamity, appearing only in times of great chaos. It strictly repays its debts. If you want the Divine Bird to follow you, you must find a way to make it owe you a favor. Only then will it remain by your side for generations, aiding you in achieving your grand ambition."